Mrs. Alaska 2009

Months of planning and preparing culminated at this weekend's Mrs. Alaska United States pageant. What an amazing, life changing experience! Less than 24 hours ago I was strutting my stuff on stage with 13 other beautiful and accomplished Alaskan women and I'm not sure I've even had enough time to process what it all has meant to me or what the right words are to describe all that I encountered in this new endeavor, but as everyone is anxious for pictures, I'm posting a least a minimally detailed account of the big day out of obligation to all my supporters :) The weekend started with a picnic with the contestants and their families, where I received the most interesting job(s) award. I'm so blessed to be surrounded by so many friends in this endeavor. I'm so grateful for my friend, Danielle who ran with me, my other friend Erin Lynn, the reigning Mrs Alaksa and my pageant mentor and friend, Jeannene, the pageant co-director.

Pageant day dawned early for me as interviews started at 9am at the Marriott downtown. Being the first contestant, I was up bright and early primping to impress the judges first thing in the morning. My dedicated hair dress made the hour drive in from Wasilla to be at our house by 7:30 to start work on my hair. My make-up artist followed not too far behind, and by 8:30 I was haired, make-uped, suited and out the door. I'd made a special mix CD of all my favorite (christian) pageant inspiration songs so I felt the Spirit in me and upon me throughout the morning. The interview, like every other stage, went soooo quickly! We had a five minute, five judge panel style interview. The judges asked me three questions, all related to my bio, related to how I could serve as an example and encourage other married women, how I discovered and maintained a balance in my life of professionalism, family, beauty and fitness, and community involvement, and about what I felt my greatest accomplishment was. Time expired as they asked my my fourth question, about my involvement on the campaign in 06 (dang! I had such a great story to tell there!)

After the interviews we had some group photos and then a short break during which I ran home, nursed Ella and finished the final packing for both of the girls and Lem and I for the evening. We had a three hour rehearsal to run through each portion of the onstage competition, practicing our walks for each portion and mapping out the layout, etc.

After our rehearsal concluded we had two hours to get ourselves ready for the stage portion of the competition. So, my beauty team arrived at my hotel room and spent some time getting me as pageant ready as possible. We had another contestant photo session on stage before the stage portion started.

It wasn't long before the lights were dimmed, the music started and our MCs were announcing the contestants. Being contestant #1 I lead the pack onto stage for our intro. After our intros each contestant answered an on-stage question (in our cocktail dress) in front of the judges and audience. My question was about being appointed to Gov. Palin's transition team in 2006.

After the on-stage question came swimsuit. So it was a quick as could be wardrobe change and a lot of applying tape in awkward places (this is where the contestants become very fast friends!) and back to the stage to show off our "fitness." I have to say that it surprised me how comfortable I was in this portion-I guess it helps when there's 13 OTHER girls prancing around in swimwear in front of hundreds of people! I actually felt more confident stepping out there in my swimsuit than stepping up to the microphone to answer my question. I guess losing 35 pounds and toning up after 2 babies can do that for a gal.

Before I knew it I was already backstage squeezing myself into my amazing beautiful evening gown. It was so crazy how fast the whole day and especially the on-stage portion went. Months of planning, weeks of preparing and hours and hours of agonizing over details and in 40 seconds you're done in that outfit and slipping into another one for the next portion! Evening gown, was by far, the most exciting portion for me. My dress was indescribable and I was SOOOOOO anxious to get out there and show it off. For the evening gown portion, the ladies are escorted by their husbands, so it was Lem's pageant debut last night as well. He wore a super handsome tux with a fancy vest, tie and pocket square that was a sharp turquoise that matched my dress exactly. It was a fabulous look!

Evening gown concluded the scored part of the pageant and after an intermission and a farewell walk by reigning Mrs Alaska (and church friend) Erin Lynn Gray the results were announced. There were several new awards this year including business woman, spirit and online photogenic. Those were in addition to the standard awards for fitness, evening gown, civic, Mrs Congeniality and photogenic, and people's choice. When the results were awarded I was please and honored to make the Queen's Court, placing third runner up, earning myself a "sleeping beauty trophy", accordingly to Sycely. Though some of the placements were surprising, the overall title winner, was no surprise to me and in my opinion, very much deserved!

After all the awards were handed out I got Ella fed and to bed upstairs in our hotel room, Sycely headed off to Nanny's for a sleepover and Lem and I joined about 25 other friends from church for a later dinner downtown. Lem and I enjoyed some much deserved dessert at Simon's while enjoying breathtaking clear skies and a spectacular sunset over the water. The end of the evening brought the best, most blissful night of sleep I've had in over a month.

All in all, it was an amazing experience. I'm so glad for the experience and all the new things I've learned about womanhood, image, pageanting, and myself over the course of all that it entailed. If nothing else, I encountered all kinds of new things that I'm certain will influence me for a life time. I now wear heels, own pearls (a special and lovely, womanly gift from my husband) and have experienced nursing while getting my hair styled, in a cocktail dress (before the pageant) and in an evening gown (after the pageant). We did order photos from the official photographer which I promise to share with all of you once we get them. In the meantime, keep checking the Mrs Alaska website http://www.mrsak.com/ for the results to be posted with photos, etc. and enjoy these pics! Thanks to all my fans and supporters. I'm so very blessed by all the love, prayers and cheering and votes my friends and family provided me last night and over the last several month. And, yest I'm already thinking about next year.